Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
This chocolate peanut butter ice cream is a rich, ultra-creamy vegan frozen dessert made from just six pantry ingredients: coconut cream, cocoa, maple syrup, and a generous swirl of peanut butter. You blend everything smooth, churn it in an ice cream maker, and swirl the peanut butter through at the end so you get ripples of salty-sweet flavor in every scoop. No dairy, no eggs, and no refined sugar — just the two flavors that were made for each other.
As you probably know by now, I’m a big chocolate fan — always have been. And because chocolate and peanut butter are a match made in heaven, you can’t change my mind about that. When they come together in the form of ice cream, they’re even more divine. For me, ice cream is among those perfect desserts that can turn a gloomy day into a happy, or at least bearable, one, and I hope you’re going to try this one over the next few hot months.
The six ingredients that make it work
What I love about this recipe is how short the list is. Coconut cream is the base, and it does the heavy lifting — its high fat content is what gives the ice cream that dense, scoopable creaminess without any dairy. Use the thick coconut cream (two cans here), not light coconut milk, or the texture will turn icy. Maple syrup sweetens and, just as importantly, its sugars keep the ice cream from freezing rock-hard. Cocoa powder and pure vanilla extract build the chocolate flavor, while the half teaspoon of salt sharpens the whole thing and plays off the peanut butter.
The star, of course, is the peanut butter. Reach for a natural, drippy one if you can — it swirls through the churned base far more evenly than a stiff, sugar-loaded spread. If you want more ideas for using up the jar, my roundup of recipes with peanut butter and this peanut butter smoothie are both worth a look.
Why the peanut butter goes in last
Here’s the small detail that makes a difference: you blend everything except the peanut butter, churn the chocolate base for about 25 minutes, and only then add the peanut butter for the final 5 minutes of spinning. Adding it at the end means it doesn’t fully dissolve into the base — instead it stays as soft ribbons folded through the ice cream, so you get pockets of concentrated peanut flavor rather than one flat, uniform taste. It’s the same reason bakeries swirl rather than stir. If you blended it in from the start, you’d lose that contrast entirely.
Tips for the creamiest scoop
- Chill your base first. If you have time, refrigerate the blended mixture for an hour before churning. A cold start helps the ice cream maker freeze it faster, which means smaller ice crystals and a smoother result.
- Don’t over-churn. The base needs roughly 25 minutes, plus 5 more with the peanut butter. Once it looks like soft serve, it’s ready for the freezer.
- Respect the freeze time. Give it at least 1½ hours in the freezer to firm up. Straight out of the machine it’s too soft to scoop.
- Soften before serving. Homemade coconut-based ice cream freezes harder than store-bought. Let it sit on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes before scooping.
How to serve it and keep it
I like to serve mine with an additional drizzle of natural peanut butter and a pinch of sea salt — I just love that collision of sweet and salty. It’s perfect as a 4 o’clock pick-me-up snack, the kind that wakes you up and gives you a little burst of energy. If you want to pile on toppings, my favorite option is obviously banana, but chopped raw almond chocolate truffles or a spoonful of chocolate mousse on the side turn a scoop into a proper dessert.
Store the ice cream in a lidded container in the freezer, pressing a piece of parchment against the surface to keep ice crystals from forming. It keeps its best texture for about a week. If you catch the frozen-dessert bug, I have a whole collection of vegan ice cream recipes to work through, and this fruity raspberry sorbet is a lighter, no-dairy counterpart for warmer days.
If you make this chocolate peanut butter ice cream, I’d love to know how thick you got your swirl — leave a comment telling me your favorite topping, and please rate the recipe below so other chocolate-and-peanut-butter fans can find it.
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 800 g coconut cream 2 cans
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except peanut butter to a food processor.
- Blend until all ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is nice and smooth.
- Add the mixture to the ice cream maker and let it spin about 25 minutes.
- Add the peanut butter and let it spin for 5 more minutes.
- Transfer into a container and freeze for at least 1 ½ hours.
- Enjoy with your favorite toppings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. It is made with coconut cream instead of dairy and sweetened with maple syrup, so there are no eggs, milk, or honey. Every ingredient is plant-based, making it fully vegan.
This recipe is written for an ice cream maker, which churns the base for about 25 minutes to keep it smooth. Without one you can freeze the blended mixture and stir it vigorously every 30 to 40 minutes until firm, though the texture will be a little icier than the churned version.
Use thick, full-fat coconut cream, not light coconut milk. You will need about 800 g, which is two standard cans. The high fat content is what gives this ice cream its dense, creamy, scoopable texture without any dairy.
Adding the peanut butter during the last 5 minutes of churning keeps it as soft ribbons swirled through the base rather than dissolving it completely. That way you get pockets of concentrated peanut flavor in each scoop instead of one uniform taste.
It holds its best texture for about a week when stored in a lidded container. Pressing a piece of parchment paper against the surface helps prevent ice crystals from forming as it sits.
Coconut-based ice cream freezes firmer than store-bought versions because it has no stabilizers. Let it sit on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes to soften before scooping, and make sure you used maple syrup, whose sugars help keep it from freezing rock-hard.
this ice-cream is INCREDIBLE! <3